- TunnelBear has announced some changes to its free plan
- The changes include the removal server selection and split tunnel support
- Company wants to remain ad-free amid rising operating costs
TunnelBear has announced a number of major changes to its free user accounts, citing rising operating costs and a goal to keep the service sustainable.
According to TunnelBear’s blog post, existing users of its free VPN service will still be able to connect to the servers, but will lose select features, such as custom server selection, which will only be available to paid subscribers. Free TunnelBear users, however, will still have access to 2GB of data each month.
TunnelBear’s move underscores a broader industry trend. As more people look for the best VPN for their needs, companies are forced to juggle the desire to offer rich, privacy-focused features with the financial realities of maintaining a secure virtual private network.
What’s changing for TunnelBear free users and why?
As part of the TunnelBear Free overhaul, which will not affect paid subscribers, free users will no longer be able to choose which country to connect to. Instead, they will be randomly assigned to the best available locationeliminating any flexibility to circumvent geographic restrictions.
Free users too lose SplitBearTunnelBear’s split tunneling feature, which prevents them from choosing which apps or websites can bypass the VPN connection. With TunnelBear Free’s very limited data allocation, the user’s data will likely run out much faster.
TunnelBear has been quick to assure users who make up its Bandwidth Program (its initiative to provide people in countries with heavy internet censorship with free additional VPN data) that they will not be affected by the changes.
All of these adjustments, TunnelBear said, are driven by the rising operating costs of a global network of servers, the expense of regular third-party VPN audits, and the need to keep the service sustainable without resorting to ads or selling user data.
TunnelBear hasn’t specified when all of this will go into effect, but free users who can’t do without server selection or split tunneling can start thinking about upgrading to TunnelBear Premium or exploring other options.
A broader VPN dilemma
Running a VPN that is truly free for the end user is an expensive proposition. Because a free VPN service can’t charge a subscription fee, providers cut features, rely on ads or data monetization, or impose strict data caps to stay solvent.
Different VPN providers handle this trade-off in different ways. For example, Proton VPN Free has an unlimited data allowance and premium tier privacy, but offers a smaller selection of servers. Like TunnelBear Free, it does not allow you to choose the server location.
Windscribe Free and PrivadoVPN Free limit free data to 10GB, allowing them to offer a solid feature set while keeping costs manageable. A new free VPN emerging, EventVPN, doesn’t throttle your data or speeds at the expense of privacy-preserving in-app ads.
TunnelBear’s recent changes are among these approaches. By removing country selection and split tunneling, you can continue to offer your free tier without ads and with the same privacy guarantees as your paid version.
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